When did the narrative around warm weather change?

[Katypp]

It used to be considered a lovely thing if we had a warm summer. Older people (me!) have happy memories of summer 76 and endless days playing outside in shorts during the holidays.
No it seems to be considered a bad thing, with people complaing about the heat, getting agitated about children going to school or even going outside at all. Weather forecasters wanging on about 'staying hydrated' as if we are children and delivering the forecasts as if it is a bad thing that we can enjoy nice weather for once.
Why are we so joyless, sucking on to bottles of water as if they were dummies and seemingly afraid to venture outside in case we self-combust.
Yes i know ow global warming and skin cancer but our reaction to a pleasant day is somewhat OTT i think.

I'm not suggesting your mother was a fool, but you said she doesn't remember scores of people dropping dead on a daily basis - but I'm not sure why anyone would think she would?
She didn't work anywhere where the elderly people who tend to be excess deaths would be dying.
She wasn't scouring the papers in the subsequent months/years looking for stats.

There will likely be a high number of excess deaths this summer too but no one is dropping dead around me
Unless I remember to look up the stats in a few months it's not something I will know and certainly not remember in a few decades time.

What narrative are you thinking of?

That people seem to have become encouraged to be afraid of hot weather. While climate change is extremely alarming especially given events like we saw in Texas last week, a few hot days (for most people) in the UK are not, if they are sensible. Why do schools still insist on children wearing hot polyester uniforms when it's 28 degrees? Why do some builders work all day with shirts off and never apply sunscreen? Why do people not think to have a cool shower when they feel hot? Why don't they cover up exposed skin when sitting on Centre Court for hours in direct sunlight? Why are hats and sunglasses not worn as a matter of course if people are spending any time outdoors? Why do men not apply sunscreen to bald heads? (A few very small examples)

I do feel that people are treated as idiots by the press because they act like idiots to a degree. For example, there are not many decent excuses for a child to be admitted to A&E with sunburn

Please don't think I was using my mother as a reason to dispute statistics! I was using her as a person I could ask who has a good memory of those times, who is reasonably well educated and well informed and interested in weather. As I said, I'm not arguing with you about the dangers of climate change. I think the UK has its collective head in the sand about it, particularly if we think people overseas should stay where they are rather than trying to head somewhere cooler. I looked on a heat map last week and found somewhere in Iraq where it was 47 degrees. If people think people can continue to live places like that they are deluded, no matter how much we want the government to police our borders.

Anyway I'm fully aware that I'm rambling now so I'll stop.

“No gloom or scare mongering? Don’t you remember the endless government warnings and the hose pipe ban and the extra 20% deaths?
were you even there if you can’t remember all this?”

@yakkity no, I really don’t. I was too busy drinking beer in the park every day after work, listening to Supergrass endlessly, and meeting friends at the beach at the weekend. Sad that all you can remember is hose pipe bans and death counts.

Previous heat waves have put pressure on the NHS, so it makes sense for the govt to encourage self-care eg don't get sunburned or dehydrated and clog up A&E.
Hot weather massively increases calls to 999.

You recognise people aren't sensible but you also don't like the narrative that they should be careful during a heatwave?

I didn't say I don't like the narrative that people should be careful in a heatwave.

I was saying that since the advent of 24 hour rolling news and news sites which get revenue through clicks on dramatic headlines, the headlines themselves appear to have got scarier. People don't click on headlines which say "enjoy the warm weather responsibly and use your common sense" do they?

(Edited to add a link)

And I knew I wasn't imagining things when I said I'd read somewhere that cold weather is more dangerous than hot weather. Found
https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h2740

BBC article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66890135

Climate change is extremely alarming but also you don't like that headlines are scary?

Blimey you're like a terrier with a rat aren't you?

Difficult to get to the substance of what you're actually trying to say.

Supergrass? In 1976?

“Supergrass? In 1976?”

@PickAChew no, Supergrass in 1995, heatwave that summer

I’m guessing she means Supertramp.
Edit: cross post with the actual answer!

Presumably there were also people in the "good old days" who didn't like hot weather?

Seems like you're maybe exposed to a few more of those people now than you were then?

Watch the video on temp changes
76 was weather
Now it's climate

Climate change is extremely alarming but also you don't like that headlines are scary?

I thought I'd explained it.

Ok, you asked why I thought climate change was alarming but alarmist headlines weren't a good idea. I don't like any alarmist headlines
The danger with a largely scientific illiterate public is that when there is a danger and media outlets largely see it as an opportunity to generate dramatic headlines, the public then start to dismiss the actual science when they don't see much evidence of the dramatic headlines being true. When people are asked to believe everything they read they end up believing nothing they read. It's a downward spiral. We saw it during Covid.

When they see weather maps now being presented differently (anything over a certain temperature being represented in ever deepening shades of scary red rather than actual figures), some people get very alarmed - especially when they keep being bombarded with information about how dangerous it all is - and many people start to dismiss them altogether, along with all climate science. And so you get the "it's called summer, get over it" posts on SM.

No one wants to be inconvenienced in the slightest ever about anything nowadays

Many enjoy regurgitating “project fear” about climate change. They don’t want to give up or pay more for a big car, or a flight, but they also don’t like it too hot, or too cold or too wet.

And then there is the bollocks English nostalgia traditions nonsense, afternoon tea on the lawn, watching cricket at the village green, polite neighbours, stiff upper lip, wearing neat boaters and cutting a very tidy privet hedge, because that is supposed the English nirvana (which doesn’t fucking exist) - expect just outside the houses round the back of Kew Gardens! (Strange day, stranger people)

It’s largely insane.

And as for the predictable British weather, yeah that era has almost going, going gone. Whether you believe the science or not, makes no difference more extreme weather is here. In 15 years time 32C in the height of summer will be a cooler day.

As the UK heats places already hotter heat as well.

And many people seek out these temperatures for a holiday, I know you don’t have to work in them, but others do to give you a holiday.

The UK thinks it’s special and it’s not really just a small island off the west coast of Europe having to deal with climate change like everywhere else.

I was thinking exactly the same thing. I see it in my town centre too People sat outside pubs for hours and hours going as red as lobsters. Its just idiotic

You definitely can't account for stupidity. No one in the UK should be going to hospital for heat related issues. We have shops that open early and close late, we have access to fridges, freezers and cold water from taps. I see people running in the middle of the day, the elderly out without hats on out in the middle of the day, bald men in soft tops with no hat on, babies lying fully exposed in buggies etc. I do wonder what happened to common sense!!!

Well said! I have written on another thread that Brits just don't seem to be able to adapt to anything outside the norm. As for the number of posters who seem to believe that the UK is the hottest, and most humid, place on earth - there are no words.

It is quite possible to deal with a bit of hot weather using sensible precautions, but people have to do it themselves, no amount of moaning or expecting someone else to fix it is going to change things.

Incidentally, in defence of your mother, while I don't doubt some people do die in hot weather (although not as many as in extreme cold), I have never heard of, or read articles about it, where I live.

In the 70s they thought we were going into an ice age… the earth is always changing.

That's nothing new though. In fact I'd say it's pretty traditional

We had a lovely 1976. Lots of BBQs, sleeping outside for weeks in tents or on balconies. All our neighbours out and about until late at night, playing outside until late, lots of socialising, it was fun.

My parents were pretty relaxed about it. My mum being Italian and Dad having been a tank commander in WW2 in North Africa then Italy, we were well prepared for a bit of heat.

I DO think current younger generations are not as resilient as previous generations. I know that's a generalisation, but we did seem to be able to tough things out a bit more jn the past. No air con, no fans, skin being burned on vinyl car seats, basic SPF6 sun cream, no constant hydration.

@frozendaisyI need to hear more about your strange day at Kew!!

I was trying to remember the depth of the advised shallow baths in 1976. And you had to share. And it wasn't every day. The 2/3 showers a day or you're grim crew would faint at the horror.
Frequent news items about villages flooded long ago for reservoirs reappearing.
I was on a hiking trip in the Scottish Highlands in August 1976 and kept coming across public loos that were out of action because they used stored rainwater and had run out.
And plenty of people got sunburn to the point of blistering in those days.

Yeah, yeah, yeah - a little bit of global warming and skin cancer. People are so joyless banging on about those...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/19/britain-heatwave-1976-crisis-summer-heat